Monogatari Second Season – 04

What did we learn this week? Hanekawa has the prettiest size 23.5cm feet ever.

Compared to everything else that’s happened up to this point, I must say that I was a little surprised to see the story take such a serious turn. Then again after three episodes of watching Hanekawa go back and forth between attempting to solve her problems and stripping down for our pleasure, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

On the other hand, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who wasn’t surprised when the episode introduced us to Araragi’s mom. Besides being the stark opposite of how I pictured her, it really surprised me to hear her bluntly address Hanekawa’s current predicament. Because compared to how all her children handle things, you’d expect her to be this doting and understanding figure, right? That being said I couldn’t help but smile when she let a little bit of her motherly love come out right at the end.

Now that I got that little blurb out of me, let me get back on track. Seeing how this episode was chock full of dialogue and clues, I think I’ll give it another go and try to play detective again. Because after putting together some of the clues that stuck out to me, I think I’ve come up with a fairly solid explanation behind Hanekawa’s tiger problem and maybe even what it’s related to. Building off of what I came up with last week and adding in what Gaen said while taunting Hanekawa, I think it’s safe to say that the tiger may actually be a part of Hanekawa — or more specifically a part of her that she’s thrust away. Throw in how everyone keeps mentioning that it’s a problem only she can see or solve and it just solidifies the notion that she’s the one who’s created it. And just like how Black Hanekawa is a manifestation of her stress, what if this tiger is a manifestation of some other emotion she’s tried to cast away? From there once you factor in the latter half of the episode, it makes a bit more sense. What if, just what if, that white tiger is the feeling of love or rather the suppressed feelings of love she has for Araragi? In turn this unrequited love could turn into envy for all the people who share her feelings! And just as Hanekawa explained toward the end, it would make sense that one of the newest and strongest aberrations could be derived from one of the strongest emotions a person can have! And like I said last week — whenever anyone tries to cast away a part of them, nothing good comes from it!

Whew, what a doozy. While it doesn’t explain why Hanekawa’s house or the abandoned school burned down since I wouldn’t consider them directly related to Araragi, I think it’s a pretty decent attempt at trying to explain what’s going on right now — and no, I don’t think Senjougahara is correct either. But what I still haven’t wrapped my head around is the ending to the episode! Not only did it feel like Hanekawa was raising her own death flag by acting so out of character but what’s she planning on doing once she’s finished writing that letter?

While only time will tell (as in waiting ANOTHER week) what will happen, there were so many other things foreshadowed that I don’t even know what to expect anymore. Between Oshino’s senpai randomly appearing and some random half vampire who I assume is from the Kizumonogatari arc, I’m torn between wanting to find out what’s going to happen to Hanekawa and wishing for the next arc to start. ARARAGI-KUN WHERE ARE YOU?

It’s a pun. Yakemochi in Japanese means ‘jealous,’ but the yake part can also meant burnt. Tsubasa’s jealousy is running rampant in the form of a tiger and burning down everywhere she’s slept. The next targets on the tiger’s list are Senjougahara’s place and Araragi’s place, so she’s preparing herself mentally (creating death flags) to confront the tiger in order to save the people she loves. The Kizumonogatari stuff is indeed confusing, as is Gaen’s relationship to everyone, but the tiger part makes perfect sense as of now.

I do wonder whether she is preparing to die — or expecting to be replaced by “Black” Hanekawa as the main personality. Black Hanekawa isn’t just stress any more. She has become, after all, a more complete version of Tsubasa, subsuming all her waking memories as well as the normal human emotions she has cast aside. Possibly Tsubasa is thinking that, in order to defeat her jealousy, she needs to accept it, which is something only Black Hanekawa can do?

Semi-serious joking aside, I had a feeling the Tiger was part of Hanekawa after Shinobu said it was something only Hanekawa can see… which makes me wonder about Gaen. I mean, seriously, how can she know everything? o_0 Monogatari series has instilled upon me a sense of skepticism– that I really should not take everything at face value because these stories are told from just one character’s perspective. Still, Gaen makes me wary with her seeming omniscience.

Anyway, I hope we’ll soon witness what it is Gaen and Episode are up to. Both of them give off this ‘big guns’ feeling, and I’ve become really curious as to what brought them to the city– and how they deal with the situation. Meme orchestrates from the shadows, Kaiki pulls the wool over everyone’s eyes, and Kagenui straight-up destroys the problem; what does Gaen do, being the senpai of these three…?

Gaen’s boast turns Hanekawa’s catchphrase, “I don’t know everything, but I know what I know” on it’s head, telling her she knows nothing while claiming she (Gaen) knows everything. Is she making an absolute claim or just one about the situation here?

Thats true but, you see, in burning her house the tiger made Hanekawa live with gahara-san and then with the araragi family, people who are very close to araragi and whose relationship with him she could very well be jealous about.

I think jealousy isn’t the main issue in this case but rather being just one of them, in the sense that the Tiger is actually operating on the emotions that are bugging Hanekawa AND can be associated with fire. In case the Tiger incident is a story-wise attempt to kill two (or a few more) birds with one stone by bringing all her previous problems together. Somewhat like this:

Hanekawa residence -> Burned down due to the anger she felt towards the parents who neglected her. This can be possibly linked with the “justice” she wanted to serve by winning them over via being a good, considerate kid and not causing any trouble, which turned out to be useless against her parents.

Cram school -> Burned down due to the jealousy she felt towards Kanbaru for she being the one who Araragi asked for help instead of Hanekawa. This possibility in Hanekawa’s head was immidiately brushed aside by giving a reasoning behind Araragi’s action, but the thought of jealousy did popped up at least a little bit.

It isn’t clear at this point whether the Senjougahara or Araragi residence is the Tiger’s next target, but if Araragi’s house is the next one, then it could be due to Hanekawa being in love with Araragi. Of course, all this arguement is just mere speculation given I haven’t read the novel nor any spoilers, but the Hanekawa residence being burned down due to mere jealousy seems a bit suspicious to me, plus the conversation between Hanekawa and the Fire Sisters about the different aspects of fire as an emotion seems way too fitting to me for this case. Unless Nitro’s theory is right: being jealous due to love doesn’t rule out the possibility she feels jealous towards people who have a relationship with each other in general, plus Araragi did mentioned in Nekomono: Kuro that family as a concept might as well be an abberation to Hanekawa as a whole.

“Between Oshino’s senpai randomly appearing and some random half vampire who I assume is from the Kizumonogatari arc”
You’re right about the half vampire, he’s from Kizumonogatari, by the name of Episode.
Theoretically, we’ve seen him before, just one-two seconds glimpse in the first episode of Bakemonogatari & Nekomonogatari(Black), the scene where Araragi is standing at the end intersection between two streets, with two people approaching him, one wielding dual swords & the other a huge crucifix(Episode).

Why Hanekawa imagines a scene of the huge crucifix flying in this episode makes sense for those who already read Kizumonogatari, but any other mentions would already be spoiler material. Check it out at BakaTsuki =)

On a side note, can’t wait for next week’s showdown & the appearance of a certain someone.

Episode’s appearance in this episode (pun not intended) has renewed my hopes of the Kizumonogatari film getting released soon. ^^V I mean come on, Shaft had the budget & team to make Bake, Nise & Neko(White) & now a 2-cour season, surely the sales from all the BD/DVDs would give Shaft little budget problems to worry about for Kizumonogatari.

…soooo next episode Manifestation of Stress vs Manifestation of Envy round 2? Cat girl vs Huge ass Tiger place your bets? No OK I’ll be serious, I don’t think the next episode will have anything like the pounding Araragi always tends to receive from his adversaries, the guy is like Touma except the only thing he has at his disposal is an immortal body that gets torn to shreds without him ever managing to make a comeback or land an actual hit to let his point get across.

The Letter she wrote is probably to tell Black Hanekawa that she now accepts her as part of herself and that she she should also accept the Tiger as part of them before he burns down all other places she has memories of. So I think the second confrontation between the Tiger and Black Hanekawa will be all words in traditional Monogatari style. Ironic that ‘Black’ Hanekawa is all clad in white and even has a faint glow eh?

Now that i think of it this does seem to be a running theme in this series, people falling in love with people who resemble their family. Hitagi mentioned her Electra complex and while it’s hard to take everything she says at face value I highly doubt it was a mere joke. The Araragi sisters also talk about their boyfriends being people who are like Koyomi. I’m not sure who else there is, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t just a coincidence. I don’t know what this means though.

I’m honestly getting tired of NOT seeing Araragi. The puns and metaphors and play with words become less intriguing after a while. I want to see actual Character development. I want clear distinct answers to questions from the previous seasons which are distinctly better in my opinion. I found myself skipping through some of the dialogue. I think fanboys will see this as a rant rather than the fact that Araragi’s interaction with characters progresses the storyline significantly and just makes it more enjoyable to watch. These conversations drag on for soooooo long…
~end

After the events in Tsukihi Phoenix, it’s easy to understand why Gaen would rather deal with the more flexible Oshino Meme and Kaiki Deishuu than Yotsugi’s master Yozuru, who can be quite a Templar Knight when it comes to exterminating oddities.

That reminds me, Araragi did first meet the conman Kaiki Deishuu right outside of Kanbaru’s mansion, though Kaiki never did follow through on what he intended to do after conversing with Araragi. Was he trying to pay Gaen a visit there?

I just have to say that the bit at the end where Tsubasa snapped a picture of herself wearing Koyomi’s clothes in Koyomi’s room and then sent it to Hitagi was absolute gold. It felt like she did it to negate some of the envy she felt for Hitagi and hopefully save her apartment from getting immolated, but it was also great humor. Plus she looked really hott. Yay for multi-layered plot points!

I also don’t think she means to die, I feel like the letter is a “just in case” so Koyomi would never be able to forget her, come what may.

Ah yes, you are correct. My fault for watching it at 2AM XD The “marking” scene and the letter scene rolled together, probably because I never wanted the marking scene to end :P I wish such an amazing girl would come into my room and “mark” my bed so I’d never forget her… :X

Is that from the LN? Cause in the anime it doesn’t actually say where she sent it, but the purple frame has been Hitagi so far, so that’s what I got from it. It also fits into the plot. Koyomi does to, but the purple pushes me toward Hitagi.

She would only send an image like that to Koyomi, it’s a long goodbye scene.
She must know for sure that she will die.

Remember the thought she didn’t wanted to follow with Episode.
Just as she realized the meaning of the tiger existence, she realized her own self is just another lost piece of Hanekawa, just like the cat.

In order to stop more broken fragments of Hanewaka to appear in this world, the white, the black, and the tiger must cease to exist.

because SHAFT…shafted (pun intended) this arc, we did not get the intended ending to this story. Therefore, I suggest reading Nekomonogatari (Shirou) at Baka-Tsuki to gain the full experience of Hanekawa’s story.

First time seeing Araragi’s mom and she’s pretty hot. I liked how she acts just like Araragi and also has the cow lick. But boy did she come across as a bitch this episode. The theme of this episode was “let’s pick on hanekawa”. Man the first half of this episode was just a literal hounding on Hanekawa by everybody especially Gaen. And why don’t they just animated kizu already instead of confusing the hell out of us with characters we don’t know popping into the show.

Also I see no resemblance whatsoever between Gaen and Kanbaru. Maybe with the tomboy clothes but it’s hard for me to believe that their mother and daughter.